27 April 2012

The Cullinans, Part 6: The Ring and the Rest

The last of the numbered Cullinan chips is Cullinan IX, a pear shape diamond weighing 4.39 carats. Queen Mary had it set in a ring in a claw setting, which was then inherited by Queen Elizabeth. Of course, with the amount of glove-wearing going on in the queen’s life, the occasions on which to actually see a ring like this are relatively few. (Sad!)

That's the end of the numbered stones but if you recall, there are still bits remaining: 96 small brilliants and 10 or so carats of unpolished pieces, what was left over when the large stones were cut and polished. Where have they gone?

According to Leslie Field, this pendant necklace worn by Queen Mary includes some of those bits and pieces; also according to Field, Queen Elizabeth doesn’t wear it because “it gets in the soup”. (I have no trouble believing that, as she’s taken it upon herself to shorten a few of her necklaces.)

And with that mystery of where any remaining pieces might be, we end the Great Cullinan Adventure and my countdown of Queen Elizabeth's Top 10 Diamonds.